


Misunderstood.

by itsnotsuchabeautifulday



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 15:33:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17706905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsnotsuchabeautifulday/pseuds/itsnotsuchabeautifulday
Summary: Betty Cooper has never been in love.Can Jughead be the one to change that, or will her dark secret ruin everything?*not my original idea*





	1. A New Home

I stared out of the window, the rain running races down to the bottom, disappearing into puddles. We were speeding along a motorway, the grey tarmac blending with the also grey sky, making the scenery appear blurred and hazy. I sighed. “How far away are we?” I asked Steven, before looking over and sighing again. He was focused on the road, his eyebrows knitting together suddenly.  
“USE YOUR INDICATORS YOU DI-“ He began, before stopping himself and turning to me.

“What was that?” He grinned, miming with one hand. I got the memo though, rolling my eyes before taking my trusty headphones off.  
“I said, how far away are we?” I smiled slightly, sucking in my cheeks.  
“Oh. Just another few minutes.” Steven said, putting his focus back on the road ahead. I looked out of the window one more time, and put my headphones back on, the music drowning out my thoughts. 

Before long, we pulled into a quiet neighbourhood. I gazed at the large houses and fancy cars, trees dripping wet from the droplets of the now-thinning rain. I whistled. “Damn.”  
Steven nodded in response, muttering to himself.  
“Ah! Number Seven. Here we are” He grinned, looking unusually nervous. He turned to me.  
“Remember Betty. Be nice. Please. This is your last shot at having a decent ‘childhood’. You know that, don’t you?”  
I looked down. I had been in foster care for my 17 years of living, since my parents kindly dumped me in a gutter in the pouring rain at age one. 

I nodded. I looked to my left to see two people walking out of one of the houses. I gulped and undid my seatbelt, before a hand was on my arm.  
“Betty...smile. And take those goddamn headphones off!” Steven smiled at me. I replied with an uneasy smile of my own. I opened the door. I heard a small gasp, and then a slightly shaky female voice. “B..Betty?” I decided I should probably take my headphones off and socialise.  
“Hiya, you must be Mr and Mrs Blossom?” I said, politely practicing my introductions. 

“Please, call us Penelope and Clifford!” The woman, presumably Penelope, said. They were both grinning from ear-to-ear.  
“Hello. My name is Steven Phillips, I have been Betty’s social worker for 17 years. May we come in, and I could discuss paperwork?” Steven leant forward to shake their hands. They nodded and gestured towards the door. They smiled as I walked past. I gave another uneasy smile, tugging at a loose strand of hair. Clifford noticed this, and looked at me, seemingly confused.  
“What happened to the lovely blond hair you had in the photo we got given?” He said, not unkindly.  
“Oh, I decided I wanted a change.” I tugged harder on my pastel blue hair, a nervous habit of mine.

“Your room is upstairs, two doors on the right.” Penelope smiled gently. I nodded my thanks. Holding onto the straps of my bag, I made myself scarce and ran upstairs. Opening the door to my new room, I whistled. “Damn.”  
A double bed was placed on the left under a window, a wardrobe on the right, and a desk to the right of the door. I went over and looked out of the window, sucking in a breath. The garden was layed out in front of me, and in the distance I could see a huge...mansion? I wasn’t sure.

I yawned, looking at my phone. 22:06. I had school tomorrow, as Steven had kindly informed me. I put my bag down, and plopped myself onto my bed. I was hardly aware of Steven coming in, and smiling.  
“Paperwork is all done, we’re all set. Good luck Betty, you have my number is anything turns sour, okay?” He gently said. I felt a slight pang at his last words, but nodded anyway. “I’ll leave you to it then. Goodbye, Betty”


	2. A New School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot to mention, but all credit goes to Joseph Evans, i just changed it up a little. 
> 
> Also i am aware that in riverdale they don’t have uniform, but yannow 🧸

I woke up the the sound of silence. Staring up at the ceiling, I realised it was Tuesday. Great. I sighed and pushed myself up and out of my bed. I caught sight of myself in the mirror and gasped. I normally wasn’t fussed about how I looked, however it was the first day at school. Not that I would talk to anybody anyway. 

My hair was everywhere and my mascara had smudged slightly. I made my way to a door almost opposite of my room, putting my hand on the door knob. It was locked. If I wasn’t still half-asleep, I probably would’ve payed more interest, but my main priority was to get ready for school. When I finally found the bathroom, I got ready in under ten minutes, and had time to straighten my hair. Backtracking into my room, I found my uniform hanging on the wardrobe. In the many schools I had been at, this uniform actually looked the most decent. 

As I got changed, my mind was swimming. Would people be nice? I didn’t even know why I cared so much, it didn’t even matter. As I stared at myself in the mirror, I hitched my skirt up slightly. I was happy that my blue hair didn’t look too bad alongside the black and crimson theme of the school. I grabbed my bag and placed my headphones around my neck, deciding to wait until I was out of the house to put them on.  
“Darling, you’re up!” I was greeted by a smiling Penelope. Damn, do these people smile all the time? It must been so tiring. I smiled back though. “Clifford isn’t here at the moment, however would it be okay with you if we had a little chat after school?” She grinned. 

I nodded before making my way to the door.  
“Bye, Penelope.” I waved. How lame, but I couldn’t think of anything else. There was no way I was going to call her “mum” yet. Closing the door behind me, I breathed in the cool air. Looking up the school on my phone, I followed the directions to the school, blasting music into my head all the while. As I passed the green gates of the school, I immediately noticed people starting to stare. I didn’t care though, I never had cared. They were probably gawking at my hair, as per usual. I noticed some harmless-looking girls standing in a group and decided to ask them where the lockers were.

“Hi, could you point me to the lockers please?” I said, in my best polite voice. The girls turned around and smiled.  
“Yeh sure, that way and to the left.” One of the girls said, shaking her black hair before pointing to her friends.  
“I’m Veronica, by the way. And this is Josie and Toni.” I nodded.  
“I’m Betty.” I said, clearing my throat. The girls nodded. “Any boys catch your interest? I mean, they’re all looking at you.” She laughed. I spun around, and sure enough, a few boys blushed and turned away. I chuckled to myself. “Not really, do you have any suggestions?”  
“Well, stay clear of Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones. Archie is a creep, and I’m keeping my eye on Jughead, he’s so sexily secretive, if you know what I mean.” She winked. I laughed politely, making no moves to tell her I had no interest in finding a boy.

I decided I had socialised too much, and started heading towards the lockers. I entered the door and internally grinned. They hadn’t lied and sent me to the boys toilets or something, I was actually in the locker room. I noticed a boy in there too, also wearing headphones. I knew what this meant, I mean I’ve been doing it all my life. I made no effort to talk to him. I looked at my phone, apparently I had locker 674. I gazed around and my eyes came to rest on the numbers. Which were placed helpfully, right next to the boy. Great. I made light of the situation and just got on with my stuff. 

Oh no.  
I couldn’t figure out how to open it. I felt my cheeks blush slightly. No, I couldn’t show any emotion. I forced the blush away.  
“Do you uh..need help?” A voice said. I turned and met a pair of bright eyes. I sighed. “Yup, please.” I said quietly. He smiled and opened my locker with ease. I nodded my thanks, before realising it was probably rude. I opened my mouth, about to thank hi, before he shook his head.  
“I know why you have headphones on. You and me both.” He grinned, adjusting his beanie. I smiled back.  
“I’m Jughead, in any case.” He said finally. So, THIS was Veronica’s interest huh? I could sort of see why. High cheekbones, fluffy black hair, strong build. Not really anything to go on for me. I probably wouldn’t stay here long enough to get to know anybody anyway.

“I’m Betty, nice to meet you.” I surprised myself, normally not adding those extra four words when introducing myself. He nodded, reaching up to take his headphones off and extending a hand. I did the same, not wanting to be rude.  
“So...you’re the secretive one the girls go crazy for huh?” I grinned, noticing him stiffen for a second.  
“I...guess so.” He replied, giving a weak chuckle.  
“Just saying, I don’t really care, I mean, I appreciate you have secrets and I won’t try to find out.” I stated, rushing over my words. 

He showed me a genuine smile, but his eyes were clouded over. “Thank you. I don’t normally do this, but meet me at Oaks Park at eight tonight, please?” I was taken aback. Me?!  
However, I nodded. I felt this was a chance to actually maybe make a friend, and I wasn’t about to give that away. He grinned at me, put his headphones on, and strolled out of the door. I stared after him.  
Maybe living here would have some benefits.


	3. Cheryl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops  
> i know i said that in the last chapter veronica introduced her friends as Cheryl and Toni, but I realised it cannot be Cheryl (for later context) so just i changed it to Josie,,, sorry 💘

School seemed to last forever. Tapping my pencil on the desk, I watched the seconds count down till- DRINGGGGG!  
The noise of scrunching paper and loud chatter filled my head. Headphones BACK on. I waved to a few people I had made friends with, and started walking home. I fumbled with my keys, keeping a wary eye on the time. I didn’t want to be late to meet Jughead. Walking in, I was greeted by smiles. Of course. 

“Hello darling! How was school?” Clifford asked, his hand on his wife’s shoulder. I nodded. “It was actually alright, for a first day.”  
“That’s brilliant news!” He replied, “Please, take a seat.” He gestured to the table. Oh yeh. The ‘little chat’ Penelope had told me about earlier. I sat down. 16:30pm. I still had plenty of time before meeting Jughead at the park.  
“So. I heard you walking around this morning, and noticed that you have found the locked spare room, am I correct?” Clifford began. Uh Oh.  
“Oh, yeh. I didn’t really think much about it, I got mixed up with the bathroom. Sorry!” I genuinely felt bad, however curiosity was creeping in steadily.

He seemed to relax a little. “Alright. Just make sure you don’t go anywhere near it, okay?” His voice was incredibly stern.  
“Uh huh. Okay.” I shrugged.  
“That will be all, thank you. You can go up to your room now.” He suddenly grinned. I was taken aback a little. As I walked up the stairs, I could hear them talking, and I slowed down slightly.  
“We can’t tell her...yes...I know...soon...Cheryl will be here...yes..wait, did you hear that?”  
My eyes widened and I hastily ran up the remaining stairs. My mind was spinning. Cheryl? 

I looked at the spare room and tiptoed towards it, gingerly tapping on the door. “Pssst. Cheryl?” No answer. “Cheryl? Are you there?” No answer.  
I could hear someone coming up the stairs, so I scuttled back to my room. 17:12. Still loads of time. I looked into my wardrobe and picked out a casual but cool outfit. Black jeans and a green top. Should be sufficient enough for a park. Picking up my guitar, I started strumming and strumming and strumming, getting lost in the music.

18:48. Perfect. Grabbing my shoes, I started walking towards the park, my face expressionless.  
It was lit by small lights in between bushes, giving off a slightly greenish hue. It was very calm and nuetral. I spotted Jughead, however I had to strain my eyes to make out his black leather jacket and grey beanie in the darkening evening. I slowly approached him, relaxing slightly when he waved. “Hey” I grinned.  
“Look. I want to be quick and to the point.” He began, before smiling and shaking his head. “Excuse me. Hi, I’m glad you could come.”  
I laughed. “No worries. Carry on, please.”

“Look I...I’m not sure why I’m doing this. I feel like I can trust you. The girls at school aren’t wrong, I do have a secret. I’m a Jones.” Seeing my blank face, he continued.  
“We are quite...famous. My dad runs an anti-ghoulie campaign. Ghoulies are evil. Pure evil. They look like any other human, but kill for greed. They hate us, normal people. They shapeshift and kill and don’t feel an ounce of guilt. I don’t know why. I will kill every single one of them though. They...they killed my sister. They killed JB.” He sniffed. 

“Oh..Jughead. I’m so sorry.” I was genuinely taken aback. It was a lot of information to take in.  
“You.. you probably think I’m crazy now.”  
“No! Not at all. I believe you.” I didn’t quite know why. Something in my gut told me to trust Jughead. He looked up.  
“Really?” He looked surprised, and for a moment, a little vunerable. I nodded.  
“Yes. You speak so fluently about it, you can’t have just made something like that up.”  
Silence.  
“So, how do you know who is a Ghoulie and who isn’t?” I said.  
“Well, my mum programmed an app for my phone, to scan around where I am. A normal person, like you or me, will be shown normally on the sreen, however a Ghoulie will have a large red symbol above their heads.”

“Ah. I see. How do you..kill them?” I gulped.  
“We use Zoxide. It’s lethal to them, but harmless to humans.”  
I nodded. Just then, I feel my phone buzz. I look down. Great.  
“Oh! Sorry Jug, I gotta run. Dinners almost done and I don’t want to upset Penelope by being late.”  
“Penelope...as in Penelope Blossom?” Jughead looked at me quizzically. I nodded.  
“I thought they already had a daugh..nevermind I guess.” He said.  
“Look, meet me here tomorrow and I’ll explain some more.” He grinned.  
“Okay, will do.”  
“Oh! One last thing. Can I have your phone?” He asked.  
“Sure thing, why?” I smiled back at him.  
“Well, you’ll be needing my number plus I want you to have the app on your phone. Gotta be safe, you know.” Was it just me, or did I see a blush?  
“Alright, well thanks Jug. See you tomorrow!” I started walking back to the house. 

“Thanks Penelope, that was delicious!” I smiled.  
“Aw darling, it’s no problem!” She grinned back.  
I excused myself. I was still was a little wary of them, seeing as I had heard them talking about ‘Cheryl’ and the locked spare room. Once safely back in my room, I decided to use the app Jughead had installed for me.  
“Let’s have a look.” My phone showed me a scan of the kitchen, where Penelope and Clifford were talking. No symbol to be seen.  
I breathed a sigh of relief, and accidentally tapped a button. Huh?  
“Oh, cool! It’s my room. Hey, it’s me-“ 

I saw a symbol. A blood red symbol, like a mark of shame, was placed right above my head.


	4. A Call To Arms.

I froze, staring at my phone screen. No freaking way this was true...I couldn't be a 'Ghoulie' or whatever Jughead had said. I didn't want to kill every person I saw? At least, I didn't think so. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. This must be a dream. Just a dream.

I woke up, and immediately opened the app. I almost screamed, my eyes surely bulging out of their sockets. The symbol was still there, ruby red and threatening, right above my head. It wasn't a dream. I pulled on my school clothes, and started to form a plan. I couldn't let Jughead use the app around me, otherwise he'd kill me. Literally. Cmon Betty, THINK!  
I burned up, thinking of one way- a possibly dangerous way, of making sure Jughead didn't find out. Waving goodbye to Penelope and Clifford, I walked slowly to school, dreading seeing Jughead, at least until my plan had worked. As soon as I entered the school gates, I immediately ran over to Veronica.   
"Hey gurl!" She purred. I smiled quickly.  
"Heya, do you know where I could find Archie? It's sort of urgent." I weakly grimaced.  
"Archie? Damn, are you okay?" She laughed. I nodded, wishing she'd just tell me already.  
"He's in the chem lab, where he always is. Just be careful, he spread poor Ethel's dog's photos around the school." I must have looked obviously confused, because she added   
"Her late dog's photos, captioned 'LOL'. How horrible is he? UGH." I agreed with her, suddenly remembering my plan. I half ran-half walked to the chemistry lab, opening the door to find a toned, ginger haired boy standing there.  
"Er, Archie?" I gulped.

"Can I help you?" He rushed over his words, seemingly irritated. I was a little taken aback, but nothing I wasn't used to already.  
"Actually, yes. I heard you're good with...devices?" He nodded.  
"Can you hack?" I asked, hoping he'd say yes.   
"Of course. Why?" He furrowed his eyebrows.  
"I need you to hack somebody's phone for me." I got straight to the point.  
"Okay, I'll do it." I sensed a 'but', so I waited for him to finish.  
"But you need to secure me a date. With Veronica." I'm pretty sure my chin hit the floor.  
"Veronica? She hates your guts!" I guffawed. He surely wasn't serious?!  
"Promise me a date, or I won't do it." He crossed his arms. I was desperate.  
"UGH! I promise." I couldn't believe I was actually agreeing with this. I stormed out, and knocked right into the last person I wanted to see.  
"SHI- Are you okay Betts?" He coughed. "I meant Betty. Are you oka- Where's my phone?" He suddenly dropped to his knees, searching through the spilled books on the floor.   
"I am so sorry! I'll help you look for it." I had already seen it though, right behind him. I subtly picked it up and placed it in my pocket.   
"Listen, I have to go to lessons, but if you find it can you please hand it back to me?" He stared at me with puppy eyes.  
"Of course. Oh and also, I'm sorry but I can't make it to the park tonight. Family meeting." I put my hands up in quotation marks. He just nodded and walked away. I calmed my racing heart and opened the door.

"That was fast?" Archie grinned. "Hand it over then."  
I handed him the phone.  
"So what exactly do you want me to do?" He looked up at me.  
"Oh yeah, course. There's this app that I need you to hack to make sure this symbol doesn't pop up above my head. Don't ask." I pleaded.  
He quickly found it, seemingly impressed.  
"This app is very well coded. Never seen anything like it."  
"I me-"   
"Shush. I'm trying to concentrate." I silenced myself. After a while, he spoke.  
"Alrighty, all done." He handed the phone back to me.  
"Remember our deal? What did she say?" I gulped.  
"She said a reluctant yes. At the park at 7. Okay bye!"

"Jughead! I found your phone!" I smiled, inside feeling very guilty but trying to hide it. He looked up and grinned. I handed it to him.  
"Thank you so much! I would hate for this to get into the wrong hands." He obviously didn't know that included me.  
I just sighed, running a hand through my hair. The bell rang, giving me a perfect excuse to head to lessons. I waved and watched him get swallowed up in the crowd.  
When the final bell finally rang, I headed home as soon as possible. I already knew there was no way Veronica would go on a date with Archie.  
What was it Jughead had said? 'Ghoulies could shapeshift'   
Was it worth a chance? I didn't even know how to shapeshift.   
"Shapeshift into... Veronica Lodge!" I cried. I focused on picturing her face in my mind. I felt a sharp pang and immediately opened my eyes.   
"Wha..?" I fingered a black lock of hair. No. Way.   
I ran over to my mirror, gasping. Veronica Lodge was staring back at me. I had no time to lose. I ran out of the door in loose black trousers and a white top, looking fairly decent.

"You actually came?" Archie grinned. "You look beautiful."  
"Mhm. Listen, I only did this as a favour to Betty. I have to be home in less than an hour." I rushed through my words.  
He nodded. "Okay, let's watch the stars." That surprised me.  
After an hour, I stood up. "That was...nice. Listen to me very carefully. You CANNOT tell ANYBODY about this, I'm embarrassed enough as it is. Also, you cannot, under any circumstances, mention this to me ever again.I'll just act like I have no idea what you're talking about. Trust me, I'm a very good actor."   
He looked very confused, however I couldn't blame him really.  
"Er...okay? Thanks for coming." He looked a little upset, but I didn't think much of it.  
After walking a little away from the park, I sighed. 

What was I doing?


End file.
